At Water's Edge
by SiennaBrown
Summary: Dipper is turning twenty-four and finally beginning to graduate from art school. Seeking inspiration for his graduation gallery theme, he turns to the ocean. Pacifica and her parents died in a freak boating accident years ago, but a familiar looking mermaid he finds at the beach challenges that notion. Some sort of AU. Smoochies, cuties, and shenanigans.
1. Chapter 1

The lanky brown haired figure carefully picked his way across the rocky beach. Thick, foamy waves rushed around his ankles, soaking the hems of his jeans and spraying his skin with brine and seaweed. He swiped the screen of his digital camera with a jacket sleeve, shivering as a gust of wind ruffled his hair and threatened to dump his hat in the frigid, salt laden water. The man looked out over the water, warm hazel eyes drinking in the greys and blues that littered the horizon. Dipper Pines had about two weeks to get enough photos for his bachelor of fine arts graduation show. He literally didn't have time to not take pictures every second of every day, but despite the rush and the stress and the panic that sloshed around in his gut, the brunette kept a calm outlook on the nature that surrounded him. He flinched as another wave came in and froze his numb ankles, then raised his eye to the viewfinder and snapped a few photos where rocks met water. Bits of foam and debris glittered in the weak early summer sun.

He continued walking down the beach, watching as the clouds dissipated from the sky and the sunlight grew stronger. The brunette quickly grew bored of the empty landscape. He sat on a rock, letting the camera hang from a cord around his neck. Dipper tugged a small sketchbook from his jacket pocket, unhooked his favorite fountain pen from his other pocket, and let the ambient noise of the beach draw him into his work. He had to think of why each piece he was creating fit the theme, which he hadn't really come up with yet. He chewed on the pen cap, getting lost in the sound of waves hitting the shore. Higher notes drifted in one ear and out the other. Dipper looked up, suddenly wanting to explore again. He stood, camera gently bumping against his chest and water swirling about his feet. The brunette clambered messily over the beach, climbing up a particularly large boulder to find someone who looked incredibly familiar sitting in a tidepool. The woman in front of him had long, platinum blonde hair stuck to her face in wet waves, then cascaded down her back and got tangled among the flotsam and jetsam strewn among the rocks. She stared at him, wide eyes so blue that they seemed to glow, and her mouth hanging slightly open as though he had interrupted her in the middle of a sentence. She blinked, eyes flicking up and down his body as though she had never seen legs before.

He meant to ask if she was alright when movement caught his eye. A periwinkle and sky blue fish scaled tail curled behind the woman, far too long to fit in the shallow pool that she rested in. His gaze followed its length, finally putting two and two together. The woman in front of him was a mermaid. Or, maybe a siren? He took a tentative step forwards and the blonde scooted backwards. He stopped, then crouched so he wasn't as tall. Maybe she was intimidated? He reached out a hand, keeping it palm up. She tilted her head and made a small questioning noise. Dipper offered a small smile and wiggled his fingers a tiny bit.

She reached out a delicate hand, shifting towards him enough that their fingers brushed. She took her hand back, cradling it against her bare chest. She made a series of small clicks with her tongue. The brunette kept his hand out, but had no idea what she was trying to say.

"I'm sorry, I don't-" The woman closed her mouth, wide eyes still staring. He checked behind him to see if there was anything there. All he saw was ocean and air. He turned back to the possible mermaid.

"Do you need water?" He didn't think she would understand him, but she nodded. He scuffled a little closer, scraping his toes on the rock. She stayed where she was, intense gaze on his face. He felt a blush rise into his cheeks as he reached out for her. The woman tugged her tail up so he could get an arm under where her knees should have been. His other arm went to her waist. His blush deepened as she wriggled at the contact. Her thin arms went around his neck and shoulders, delicate fingers clasping over the now damp fabric of his jacket. He had forgotten about his pen and sketchbook, which had fallen from his clumsy grip. The man carefully stood up, dragging the mermaid's slight frame from the pool. Her wet hair probably weighed more than she did. The long golden tangles streamed from the crown of her head to the boulder, some seemingly braided together while others hung limply from their own weight.

Dipper carefully maneuvered off of the rock, tripping over the smaller rocks on the gravelly beach as he made his way to the water's edge. The mermaid in his arms never looked away from his face, which brought his awareness to the slight stubble on his chin. He should have shaved that morning. He hated how scratchy it felt. One of her hands caressed his cheek, bringing his gaze down to her face. Her fingertips rested against his lips. He focused on walking through the waves. If he didn't get out far enough, she would only get beached again. The water whirled around his jeans, soaking the denim through to his bones. The farther out he got, the higher the icy waves reached. When he was about waist deep, the mermaid started to wriggle and make tiny squeaky noises. Dipper gently leaned forward, dipping her tail into the ocean. She held onto his face, bringing their noses close enough to touch.

Her lips pressed against his, and their chests bumped together. The water roiled around them. Her face was cold, colder than the briny water they stood in. He closed his eyes as she deepened the kiss, opening her mouth and drawing him farther out to sea. Her tail whipped around, knocking his feet out from under him. He gasped in panic as the water rose above his head, drowning his camera. The shock made him sputter, but the mermaid's hands still had a solid grip on him. He struggled towards the surface, only to be stopped by a curious sound.

The most beautiful voice he had ever heard echoed around the water, something similar to whales and opera alike. He blinked, using his eyelashes to keep the salt from invading his eyes. The brunette couldn't see, but the voice was quickly joined by another. Before long, the ocean was filled with the bittersweet singing. The man was quickly running out of air, but he couldn't fight his way to the surface. He closed his eyes, releasing the last bit of stale air that his lungs held. The mermaid never relinquished her hold, even as black spots crowded around his vision and his ribcage burned from the lack of oxygen. Her lips pressed against his once more, interrupting the incredible song that still wound around the edges of his brain.

The world went dark and Dipper couldn't feel anything.


	2. Chapter 2

He was floating. His whole body was numb, arms and legs resting like cotton candy. Something grainy brushed against his fingertips. He pressed his hand into the tiny particles, only to be dragged forward by a forceful current. Dipper cracked his eyes open, seeing nothing but a grey and brown haze. A dark shape leisurely moved across his vision. He reached a hand out to catch and inspect the object. It had a slimy texture, with an interesting rounded leaf like structure. The brunette opened his mouth, feeling it fill with brine.

He spat out the liquid and pressed his feet into the sand below him, losing the bit of seaweed that he had been holding. He launched himself away from the ocean floor, ignoring the burn in his throat that meant he had been holding his breath for too long. Cold air hit his skin, making him gasp as his eyes darted around. The predawn light cast a hazy grey glow over the water's surface. He stretched his arms out in front of his chest and turned until he saw the shore. A huge wave crested over his head, knocking him back under the water and dragging the unsuspecting college student closer to the beach. A few panicked moments later, his bare feet hit the sand and he was able to ground himself. Then the water drained away, and he was left standing on the rock that he had found the mermaid on. Or maybe she was a siren?

Dipper shivered, wet clothes and limbs totally exposed to the frigid air. He stared out at the ocean, a feeling of forgetfulness overtaking the goosebumps that rose on his arms and legs. He hadn't been wearing shoes when he helped the mermaid back into the ocean. He felt around his neck for his camera, but it wasn't there. His heart dropped. That thing had been expensive, and he needed it to finish his show for graduation. The man crossed his frigid arms over his chest and wandered slowly back towards his campus. He would have to borrow one from the school in order to complete his task.

A long, low note sounded in the distance, pulling Dipper from his thoughts and dragging his attention back out to sea. A golden head bobbed on the horizon, a delicate arm extended towards the sky. A name flashed in the forefront of his mind.

"Pacifica…" But that was impossible. She had died four years ago. Her parents had insisted that she go to a fancy party with fancy people on a yacht, and then they had been targeted by someone whose life they had ruined during a money grab, and the whole boat had gone down with no survivors. The figure disappeared under the water.

Dipper stared out at the water until he was shivering too badly to hold still. He sneezed and started the trek back to campus without being interrupted again. The trail through the woods was well maintained, so he didn't have to shove any branches out of his way. The brunette rubbed his arms to get his blood flowing, then wished he had thought to look for his sneakers as his bare feet hit pavement.

The sidewalk was free from the other students, likely due to the hour. His jeans left a little trail of drip splatters on the pavement. He shakily pulled out his I.D. card and swiped into his dorm building. The stairwell light was broken, and it had been since day one. He had a sneaking suspicion that the bulb worked but the current to the fixture was dead. He grasped the railing and ascended to the fourth floor of the dormitory, then counted until he was twelve doors down. Mabel had decorated his door for the nearest holiday, but other than glitter and stickers he had no idea what it was supposed to be.

The brunette fished around in his front pocket for his keys, only to drop them on the carpet. He glared at his shivering fingers, then stooped to pick up the fallen metal ring. It took a few tries for him to get the keys in the lock, but once he was inside he could finally think.

Pacifica was dead. He had gone to the funeral, though there had been no body. The mermaid that he had brought to the ocean the previous day had to have just been a look alike. He remembered seeing somewhere that for every one person there were seven that looked just like them. Maybe that wasn't true, but he was certain that his friend was dead. If only because he couldn't handle the alternative.

His camera was rolling around somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, though, and if he wanted to get his final graduation project done on time, he needed a spare. The brunette carefully stripped his wet clothes off and hung them by a window to dry. He put on some of the warmest sweatpants he owned, as well as a jacket that wasn't full of water. It took him longer to find his other pair of sneakers, mostly because he forgot that they were still in the box they had been purchased in.

Rubbing some salt out of his left eye, Dipper realized that his fingertips were blue. He frowned. The student looked at his toes to find that they, too, had a bluish tint. He walked out of his dorm and into the bathroom that was a few doors down. The face that looked back at him appeared dead. His skin, which had always been pale, was sheet white. Purple bags stuck out under his eyes in stark contrast. His nose, which was usually very red, was also blue.

The man looked like a walking corpse. He couldn't go borrow a camera like that. His appearance also brought to mind the question of how long he had been underwater exactly. He poked one of his cheeks, the muscle and skin barely moving at the pressure. Dipper was not actually a corpse. Surely he was just overly tired from his night in the water. Some blankets and hot chocolate would do wonders. He shuffled back into his dorm, locked the door, and grabbed a mug from on top of his mini fridge. After pouring some milk and cocoa powder into it, he shoved it into the microwave and realized that the powder should have gone in after heating the milk. He punched a few numbers and pretended like that didn't matter.

Someone outside started singing, not with words but with sweet notes that made the college student's ears tingle. He abandoned the hot chocolate, moving instead towards the closed window. Nobody was outside, but the bittersweet notes persisted. He tilted his ear towards the glass, trying to hear the sound better.

The microwave beeped emphatically, cutting off any other noise. Dipper sighed, then retrieved his drink and curled up under a bundle of blankets. When he finished his hot chocolate, he set an alarm for a few hours from then, and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A shrill buzzing noise jangled against his inner ear, forcing the young man into a vertical position way faster than he would have thought imaginable. Dipper flailed around for his alarm clock, knocking it onto the floor. Consequently, it unplugged itself from the wall and his ears were met with blessed silence. He blinked a few times, rubbed his grainy eyes with fingers that felt too cold, and threw his covers off his legs. The brunette gave up on trying to regain his natural skin color. He would just have to play it cool. And also take a picture once he got a replacement camera, because this complexion was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the coolest self-portrait ever.

The distant singing that he had heard earlier took over his brain as he got dressed and ready for the day. He did his best to ignore it, which seemed to only make it louder. Dipper shook his head, grabbed his backpack, then opened his dorm door. Only to find his neighbor. Robbie. He frowned as the older student locked the door opposite Dipper's. The black haired man turned, then mimicked Dipper's expression.

"You look awful."

Dipper rolled his eyes, then hoisted his pack up onto his shoulder a little better. He did not want to have this conversation.

"Come on, kiddo. You aren't still mad at me for that Silly Putty comment the other day, are you?"

Dipper sighed, "I wasn't, until you brought it up again." He had burned the picture in question so that nobody would have to look at it ever again. And especially nobody was going to say that it had the chiaroscuro of a nineties toy made of gelatine and children's souls.

The taller guy laughed a little, twirling his keys around a finger, "well, I have to go finish that sculpture I was telling you about. The giant one about lighting hearts on fire. I think it's freaking my teacher out, but I like it."

They waved at each other, almost in a friendly way. Dipper couldn't believe that Robbie was still getting his Bachelor's degree. Well, to be fair, the guy hadn't gone to college right away. And he didn't decide on a major until, like, three years into his education. But the man was nearly thirty and he was finally settling on a BFA in sculpture. Dipper was glad he had decided on photography so long ago.

The brunette went down a different flight of stairs than his rival, partially because he didn't want to awkwardly follow the dude down the stairs after having waved goodbye and partially because the other staircase was closer to the media technology building. Dipper had a camera to go borrow.

After twenty minutes of walking, five minutes of regret, and ten minutes of arguing over which camera was best for what he wanted to take pictures of, the young man had acquired a camera! Which, despite what had happened to the previous camera, he immediately brought down to the beach.

No one was resting on the sandy and rocky beach, partially due to it being cold as balls outside, and partially because it wasn't tourist season. Dipper had taken some summer courses and found that it was impossible to be by the water without someone else being there and getting in the way.

Constantly.

And by someone, he meant Gideon.

God, he hated that guy.

Dipper took his shoes off and tied them to his pants so that they wouldn't get lost. Or covered in water. Or dragged to the bottom of the ocean. He sighed, then snapped a photo of his bare feet sinking into the sand.

He deleted the photo. The light was all wrong and his feet were looking pretty corpse-like. He stared at them, seeing more veins than he ever had in his life. He decided to take another photo of them. Just for fun.

The brunette, who had successfully ignored whatever music had been playing in his mind all day, heard more singing. It seemed to originate from his earlobe, yet also the horizon line. He shook his head, trying to ignore it again.

Failing that, he decided to follow it. Whenever the noise started to fall silent, he changed the direction he was walking in until he had travelled to the water's edge. Dipper couldn't see who was singing, if anyone even was singing, so he gave up and focused on his photography instead. After today, he was going to need to hide in the photo lab, which had printers, and figure out what dimensions he wanted his photos to have.

The student lived on the line between pixel hell and perfectly focused photography. There was something about obscuring the seeable that he found intoxicating. The singing picked up once more, but Dipper refused to go in the water with a camera that didn't belong to him. He wrenched his gaze away from the rolling waves.

A flash of gold caught his peripheral vision, forcing him to look back at the ocean. He squinted, but the gold was gone. He gripped his camera, finger poised on the capture button. The music faded into the sound of foam sizzling against the sand. A high keening noise wrenched his gaze to the left.

Pacifica sat waist-deep in the water, a single hand outstretched and a graceful smile playing across her face. Dipper stopped breathing. The light his her hair in such a way that it positively glowed, framing her high cheekbones and full lips with golden light. He pressed the image capture button more out of instinct than anything else. She smiled a little more, reaching out until her arms strained with the effort to pull him closer.

He took one step, then two, then looked through the viewfinder and took another picture. She opened her mouth just as he clicked the button a third time.

"Dipper!"

He froze. It was Pacifica. That was her voice. He dropped the camera, feeling the strap that held it above the waves dig into his neck now that his hands had given up on their primary function. Sure, he had been thinking that the mergirl was possibly his long lost friend, but he didn't actually think it. He only. Sort of thought it.

There was no way that this mystical creature was Pacifica Northwest.

"Dipper." Her fingers wiggled at him. He took a step closer.

"Are you going to drown me this time?"

The girl laughed, bubbly like geysers from the deep and gentle as raindrops dripping from tree leaves to puddles. He stepped closer, offering a hand.

"No. I didn't mean to last time, either." She wrapped her frozen fingers around his, pulling him still more near. He stumbled forward, nearly tripping over her tail in addition to his own feet. He asked before he had time to think of how rude he could be considered.

"Are you dead?" Fuck.

"Pacifica?" He should have said that first.

"I mean, you look like someone who died." Real smooth, asshole. Dipper decided to shut up.

The blonde chuckled, turning his blue hand over and tracing the veins and wrinkles that showed on the surface of his skin. He briefly considered saying more stupid things because of how entrancing the sound of her laughter was.

"Yes, I died. Yes, I'm Pacifica. The very same one who danced in muddy shoes on her mother's favorite carpet." Her expression melted from amused to nostalgic.

"And yes, in case you were going to ask this next, technically you're dead, too."

His stomach suddenly became a black hole and sucked every single word in his vocabulary into the icy vacuum of space. Dipper knew he was gawping, but he didn't feel it necessary to shut his mouth.

"What?"


	4. Chapter 4

Pacifica rubbed his hand a little, trying to soothe his emotions. He looked at his blue fingers and tried to listen to the blood rush through his veins. To his heartbeat. His ears were met with nothing but the sound of crashing waves and angry seagulls. He was dead.

"Yup, dead as a doornail. Sorry about that." He looked at Pacifica, who appeared to be decidedly guilty. He felt his eyebrows press together.

"You killed me."

She flushed teal, "it was an accident!"

"What the hell?"

"I'm sorry! I was just so happy and I lost control and-"

"And drowned me in the ocean! What am I going to tell my teachers? They will know something is up. What am I supposed to do?"

The blonde was trying to rub reassuring circles into his knuckles, which would have worked under normal circumstances, but he was dead and his chest was doing something weird. He pulled his hand away and backed up, right into a particularly strong wave. He sputtered, trying to protect his camera.

"I have to go."

"Try a spray tan?"

That was so not funny. "I'm leaving." He started to walk towards the shore, leaving the mermaid behind. She made some clicking noises.

"Don't stay away too long!"

He made a strangled noise and fought his way back to the beach. Once in the sand and pebbles, he slipped his shoes on over his wet skin and slogged back to campus. He would take pictures in the woods instead of by the beach.

He was totally dead, in more ways than one. He was not going to have enough pictures for his graduation gallery.

* * *

Pacifica watched as Dipper slowly disappeared into the land. She dove under the water and used her strong tail and limber arms to propel herself into the deep. She had a lot to think about. Like how Dipper had died, but the ocean granted him life. He had to turn into something, and soon. And it was not going to be pretty. She grimaced as she remembered what had happened to her parents. As well as herself. The cocooning process was a sticky mess, and her parents had- Well, to be blunt, they hadn't survived the process. They had come out of their shells as goopy messes and drifted away into the current like jellyfish. She shuddered.

Other mermaids joined in her downward plunge, voices rising and swelling in song and chatter. She waved at the ones she knew, but kept swimming towards the undersea city they all lived in. She went straight to the ocean temple where the spirit of the briney deep lived. Pacifica crept into the darkness, breathing into a lamp on the wall to announce her presence to the deity that presided over the waters. A roiling mass at the other end of the temple slowly unfurled, revealing a small teal light. The blonde swam over, pausing a respectful distance away.

A dark tentacle beckoned her forward, " _Yes, my child?"_

Pacifica wriggled towards the blue glow, squinting against the light. A woman's form shifted into focus, her lower half a writhing tangle of limbs. Her arms were outstretched. The blonde smiled warmly and accepted her goddess' embrace.

"I wish to ask a favor, O Star of the Sea."

A hand gently gripped her chin and tilted her face to meet the goddess' gaze. She blinked, dazzled by her beauty.

" _And what favor would you ask of me, my daughter?"_

Pacifica chewed on her lip. What she wanted was to watch over Dipper as he transformed from an Earthling to a monster. And make sure that he made it to the ocean afterwards. Her goddess was merciful, so even if she rejected the favor, Pacifica wouldn't have to worry about getting smited on the spot.

"My goddess, there is a boy you saved recently. Dipper Pines. I wish to join him on land and oversee his transition from deceased to alive, and ensure his safety. We were childhood friends-" Her heart glowed at the memories they had. Maybe she wanted to be more than friends. She remembered the kiss that dragged him underwater. And blushed. Definitely wanted to be more than friends.

"I just want to make sure he'll be alright. Even if it only lasts until he's done cocooning. Anything would be better than being trapped in the waves without knowing his status." The goddess of the ocean patted the blonde's hair and closed her eyes.

" _I can grant your wish. However, If I return your legs to you, you will not be allowed to return to the haven. Your tail will go to someone else. If you die again, it shall be forever. I cannot reverse your fate twice, my child. My peers already say that once is too much, and that I am becoming soft. Perhaps I am."_ She smiled sadly.

Pacifica had to make her choice. Leave behind her new friends and peers to return to her past, or stay in the ocean without knowing for sure if one of her only 'living' friends was safe. She had to admit, she missed Dipper. She also missed Mabel and Candy and Grenda. She even missed their strange Great-Uncle Stan, though she doubted he was still alive. She missed having legs, too.

"Goddess, I am forever in your debt. Please, grant my request. I fully understand the consequences."

The goddess kissed her forehead, "Once you surface, your legs will return and you will no longer be able to come here. Fare thee well, my child." She waved Pacifica's dismissal, and the mermaid quickly retreated. She swam around the great reef, explaining her situation to the creatures she had become closeto. Most of them wished her luck in her endeavors up above, while two or three tried to talk her out of it.

"Seriously, Pacifica. He didn't even look for you. Why would you go on land for him? I don't get it."

The blonde ignored them. They had never been too fond of men in general, so they wouldn't understand that Dipper was genuinely a nice person. Having said her goodbyes and collected her meager supplies, Pacifica began her trek to the surface.

She wondered if she was making the right choice.


	5. Chapter 5

Pacifica surfaced as close to shore as she could manage, gasped at the cool air, then doggy paddled to the beach. The small waves helped drag her into the pebbly beach. The blonde gasped with lungs that no longer accepted water as a substitute for air. Her new legs were wobbly and weak, but they were there. She got swamped by a wave. Hacking and sneezing salt out of her mouth, the woman struggled to dry land. Before long, she had found a rock to sit on.

She wrapped her arms around her torso and stared into the dark sky. The cold hadn't bothered her after she drowned, but now her skin was bumpy with gooseflesh and her nose ran. She sniffled, then stood up. She had to find Dipper before the final cocooning stage.

She looked down as something stabbed her foot. A broken seashell clattered against the pebbly sand as she moved. Pacifica blushed as she realized that the only thing covering her body was her own hair. Well. There wasn't anything she could do about that. Maybe dumpster dive. She shuddered, then followed a well-worn trail through the woods.

It opened onto a sidewalk, and across from the concrete path was some sort of building complex. Maybe a college? Lights moved around a corner and the frightened blonde hid behind a tree until the vehicle passed. She poked her head around her hiding place. A pay phone booth sat across the road. She looked both ways, then sprinted across and closed herself in the booth.

Maybe Dipper's phone number was still the same. She scraped around the floor and found a few discarded dimes. She stuffed the change numbly into the machine, then dialed Dipper's old number.

An older man answered, "Do you know what fucking time it is?"

Pacifica gulped, "um, I'm sorry sir, I was just looking for Dipper Pines. He's my, um, classmate!" She chewed her lip.

The guy on the other end snorted, "well, he doesn't live here anymore. You want his cell?"

She smiled, "yes! If that's okay, I mean. I wanted help with a project. He's the smartest person I know and I'm really stuck."

"You know, if you talk too much more I'll think you're lying."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just stressed." She ran her fingers over the curly cord as the man on the other end of the line listed off a series of numbers until she had it memorized. She thanked him, then hung up. She got a dime back. The blonde stuffed it back into the phone, was alerted that she only had a few minutes to talk, and dialed Dipper's cell phone number.

"Hello, Dipper Pines speaking?" He sounded dead. Well, supposedly it was sort of late to be calling people.

"Hi, Dipper? This is Pacifica!" She crossed an arm over her chest as a pair of students walked by while loudly talking about Star Wars.

"... How did you get to a phone?" She could hear a keyboard clacking in the background.

"Scratch that, how did you get to a pay phone?"

The blonde pressed her ear into the phone, "I may have given up my mermaid form to make sure that you were okay."

"...That's sort of creepy. Where are you?"

She blushed, "I'm at a payphone." The silence that ensued after her statement was interrupted by the phone telling her that she had one minute left. The woman wildly glanced around, then saw a placard on the side of a building. Squinting helped the words come into focus.

"I'm behind the Fiddleford Building. This is the only payphone box I can see. I'm out of change, Dipper, I'm going to get disconnected! Also, I'm naked so please bring me a jacket or something!"

"You're wha-" The line went dead. The monotone voice suggested that she put more change into the phone if she wanted to continue the call.

Pacifica put the handset back on the receiver. Hopefully Dipper would find her soon. She didn't want to be naked when the sun came up. Or at all. Or, like, ever again really. It was fine while she was a mermaid, but now that she was on land it was sort of weird.

Another person wobbled near the Fiddleford Building, but didn't go near the phone booth. She assumed they were inebriated. The blonde wanted to sit down, but the floor was filthy. Oh god, was that little square of tinfoil labeled as Trojan? She scooted as far away as possible, then wished that she had asked for shoes.

Enough time passed that she figured Dipper had decided not to show up. She opened the door of the phone booth, shivered at the rush of cool air that whispered over her skin, then took a step out of her hiding place. Then another. She was about to take a third step when someone shouted behind her. She froze. The voice sounded again, more recognizable.

"Pacifica!"

She turned, arms crossing over her chest. Dipper looked paler than white paint, with blue replacing the red in his nose and fingertips. He waved, then trotted to meet her. She figured that he would be blushing under normal circumstances, but for now he just held out a pair of flip-flops and a sweatshirt.

"Here."

Her fingers shook as she took the clothes, dropping the shoes to the ground and gently stepping into them. Then she tugged the sweatshirt over her damp hair and made sure it covered her butt. Which was easy, because Dipper had grown so much that it went to her knees. Maybe it was just stretched out? Eh. It fit, that was the important part.

"Thanks, you can look now." She smiled at him. He didn't really smile back.

"Why would you give up your legs for me?" His eyebrows were low over his face, stern disapproval making her eyes sting a little.

Pacifica wrapped her arms around her torso again, "because you don't know what's going to happen now that you're dead. I lived through it, and I watched my parents die a second time because of it. Can we talk somewhere less chilly?" Her toes were beginning to go numb. Dipper sighed, ran a hand through his bangs, then sighed deeply and started walking back the way he had come.

She jogged to catch up with his long stride, and felt incredibly guilty for being the reason he was dead. It wasn't the first time since he had saved her from dry land that she had regretted her lack of control. Now that she had her legs again, she hoped she could make it right.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is super wordy guys! I wasn't sure how to go about explaining some things so there's a lot of blah blah blah in this chapter. ^^; Please enjoy!**

* * *

Dipper didn't bother trying to say anything during the long walk back to his dorm room. He was too busy trying to get all of his questions straight, which was made even more difficult because he couldn't write them down until he had pen and paper in hand. Pacifica was, thankfully, also silent during the brisk walk. The air was too cold for him, but lately anything less than scalding felt too cold.

And he still didn't have enough pictures for his gallery show. Maybe he could blow up one of the photos so that it took up a whole wall… He would have to choose carefully, of course. Picking the wrong photo could be his downfall.

Aside from being dead, of course. He dug through his pocket for his ID card and swiped into the building, holding the door open long enough for his nearly naked blonde companion to pass but not so long that the alarm would go off. The brunette just had a hard time believing a few things.

Firstly, that Pacifica was alive. Was she technically considered alive? How did the whole undead mermaid thing even work? She had mentioned cocoons earlier. Dipper rubbed his forehead as he trudged slowly up the stairs. The small noises of flip-flops on feet told him that the woman was still following closely.

The second thing he had trouble believing was that she would give up her life as a mermaid, where she had surely established friends and relationships and some sort of livelihood, in order to keep an eye on him. What the fuck? He wasn't sure if he would have done the same thing.

Guilt made his throat a little sore. He couldn't know for sure what he would do until action had to be taken. Until she flat out told him otherwise, he had to assume that her reasons were important or whatever.

Dipper slammed the door to his floor open, only to come face to face with Robbie again.

Fuck.

"Hey, dude, why were you out so la- Did you sneak a stripper into the dorm?" The taller man held a basket of dirty laundry, clearly on his innocent way to innocently do laundry. The shorter student tried not to outwardly groan at his horrible timing.

"She's not a stripper, she's my friend."

Robbie didn't look like he believed Dipper's statement.

"Are you sure? She's not wearing any pants."

Dipper pressed his lips together in an unamused line, "Go do your laundry, you slimeball." He put a hand around the shocked Pacifica's shoulders and led her into the hallway and away from his asshole neighbor.

"I'm just sayin'-" The closing stairwell door cut off the rest of his remark. Dipper mentally thanked the architect for constructing a dorm building that was relatively quiet.

"A stripper? Really?" Pacifica sounded more confused than insulted.

"Robbie's an asshole, you'll have to ignore him."

She giggled as he tried to get his key to unlock his door. The mechanism was prone to jamming. After a few tries, the door opened. He stepped inside, ushered the blonde in as well, then locked the door behind them. He had photographs and matboards of all different sizes in piles and stacks all over the room. Laundry and garbage were piling up outside of his closet, which had been turned into a makeshift darkroom.

He let Pacifica Northwest into his literal garbage heap of a dorm room. He stared at the mess for a full minute before finally stooping over to clean some of it up.

"Sorry, I was sort of in a rush to find you, and I have this huge thing due…" A delicate touch on his shoulder made him drop half the shit he was picking up. He was so numb and so tired.

"You don't have to clean up just because I'm here. It's not a big deal, really. We have more important things to talk about than that, anyway." Her gentle voice carried, melodic, through the air and into his brain. He ignored his messy room.

"Like the cocooning thing?"

She nodded, graveness taking over her expression.

"It is very likely that, once you cocoon, you will no longer be able to breathe air. If that's the case, someone needs to be here to get you to the ocean as fast as possible."

He waved his hands a little, "Whoa, we are skipping so much. First of all, you said that when you drowned me, that it was an accident. How the fuck do you accidentally drown somebody?"

Pacifica blushed, teal instead of the expected rosy hue. He ignored his heart aching. It was easy to do now that his blood no longer moved the way normal blood did.

"Well, when I died, my last thoughts were of you."

He felt like an asshole for thinking she was creepy earlier, felt like an idiot for currently thinking that she was being creepy, and cursed his future self for likely also continuing to think she was creepy. The poor thing had probably been crushing on him for years. Heavens knew he had been fond of her. And then the boating accident had happened.

"Okay." Lame.

"When mermaids meet the object or subject, plural or singular, of their affections from when they were alive, it is very hard for them to contain their excitement. That's why there are so many stories about sailors being drowned by bewitching sea monsters. Many mermaids were sailor's wives, and when they saw their husbands and lovers at sea, they would get overly excited."

"And kill people, but-"

"Because they forget that humans need air! Dipper, with all of the excitement and emotions and everything happening, it is so easy to forget that our loved ones don't work the same way that we do. It's easiest for us to be in the water, so that's where we go!"

Dipper held his tongue for a few solid minutes as Pacifica slowly returned to a calmer facial expression. He took that time to find a pen and his notebook so he could jot down some questions. Hopefully they weren't going to be as explosive a subject.

 _1) Cocoon? What is this, when will it happen, and how long will it take?_

 _2) What sort of mystical sea being will I turn into? A mermaid? ?_

 _3) Do you still like me? (DONT ACTUAlLY AsK THIS deaR GOD)_

 _4) Will I get magic powers?_

The brunette figured that covered almost everything. He started with a question he didn't jot down.

"Why are you still so concerned about me?" Fuck, that was probably too much like question number three. It was too late. He was screwed.

Pacifica blinked a few times, then rubbed a thing finger over the bridge of her nose. Dipper was so glad that he couldn't blush anymore. He would be morbidly horrified if his face could get as red as it did while he was alive.

The blonde sighed, "honestly, it's been really hard for me to think of you moving on with your life. As a sentient being, I understood that humans live short lives and that obviously you would… move on. Find someone else. Get married, maybe, have a kid or two. That all my friends would." She paused, humming contemplatively.

"The part of me that died in the yacht just couldn't keep living if I couldn't be friends with you, at least. So I've been lurking in these waters." She covered her mouth with a gentle hand, "hoping that one day I might see you. Or… or hear your voice. Anything. I was desperate to be alive again. To have the chance with you that was taken from me in death."

Dipper resisted the urge to tell her that she killed him so they could be together. That would just upset her.

The weird mentality she had about him was really creeping him out, though, gooseflesh and major ew vibes the whole way down his spine. He decided to move on to the cocoon thing. If that was going to interfere with his gallery show in two weeks, he wanted to know about it.

"You talked about cocooning before. What is that?" He nervously tapped his pen on a knuckle, the quiet twang of plastic against skin and bone nearly invisible to his ears. Pacifica sat down on the edge of the desk, an area that was clean only because there had been a pile of photos that got organized into other photo piles.

"There is a goddess who lives deep underwater. She was the one who granted you life after death. There is much that she must leave up to chance in order for her siblings, other gods and goddesses, to leave her alone. The first area of chance is whether or not her magic will let you rise from the dead. The second area of chance is whether or not you will come back to life fully. That's the cocoon stage. In order to go from being a corpse to being a living thing again, your body will slowly turn to jelly. Ghostly threads will anchor you so you don't get injured as magic imbues your dead flesh with life once more. During that process, you are unmade and then made afresh. Not everyone comes back whole. My parents, for example, were released from their cocoons as half-baked cookie dough."

Pacifica looked positively ill as she recounted the tale. Dipper handed her an unopened water bottle. She stared at it for a few moments, blue eyes unblinking, before she carefully took it and murmured her thanks. The brunette didn't really know what to say, which was fine because she hadn't been totally done talking.

After she took a small sip of water, the woman continued, "the third area of chance is what sort of creature you will be. It seems to be a random draw, with mermaids being the most common form and a god or goddess being the most rare. The final area of chance is how long your afterlife span will be. Nobody knows for sure, though the shortest one was one hundred years and the longest is, as yet, four thousand." She smiled at her drink.

"That old lady is fabulous. Totally nuts, but fabulous. And she has no name, which is rather unfortunate."

Dipper chewed on his pen cap. That basically covered all of his questions, though something bothered him.

"So, the sea goddess… creates life after death. And her pantheon of siblings don't like that?"

Pacifica shrugged, "I've never met them, but she keeps no secrets from those who ask questions. As far as anybody knows, she has five siblings. Six gods and goddesses in total. Sea, Earth, Sky, Fire, Light, and Dark. They have no names, only titles and elements under their control. The great ocean goddess is the kindest and nicest of all, while the other ones constantly push for battles of dominance. We don't ask much about that. Family is a sore subject for most of the people who live in her haven."

Dipper jotted down some notes, brain still churning through everything. He had a limited chance of survival. If he did survive, it was likely that divine war would break out.

Oh, he wished he could tell Mabel about all this shit.

"So, do you have a timeframe on that cocoon thing?" He smiled hopefully, then let it drop when she shrugged.

"It could happen any time from the end of this week to six months from now. I just wanted to be here if you need help with anything. Seriously, I understand that my behavior has been… less than normal, recently. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. If you want me to leave, then I will."

He sighed, closing his notebook after writing a few more notes with his leaking and mangled pen.

"It's not fine, but I'm not about to kick you out. You're a homeless lady right now. The least I can do is sneak you into the men's dorm and give you a place to sleep." He gave her a reassuring smile, then started to pick up some garbage. after clearing a spot on the floor, Dipper was able to set his mattress topper down on the floor (sheets covering both sides of the thing to discourage bugs). He made sure that Pacifica had enough blankets and pillows before flopping, exhausted, into his own bed.

Hopefully his cocoon stage would wait until after his graduation gallery mess was sorted out.


	7. Chapter 7

Dipper stared blankly at a stack of photos, a pen hanging limply out of his mouth. Pacifica had been hiding out in his dorm for a week and a half. She had warned him about the lack of energy. He hadn't thought it would be as bad as it was. And his graduation gallery was in serious need of being set up. The deadline was in two days. The brunette shifted his gaze from the stack of photos to the literally see-through skin of his right arm.

There was also that.

"Do you want me to carry that over to the gallery for you?" He blinked in surprise, which was about all the movement he could do.

"Dipper?"

"Yeah, I heard. And, please." Pacifica's strong arms reached in front of his face to collect the pictures, only to be replaced by her worried face.

"Are you coming along?"

He probably took way too long to answer her, "Uh… I should."

The blonde sighed, then helped the brunette to his feet. He weaved a little in his shoes. Together they went to the gallery, but he didn't have the strength to do much more than direct his friend on where and how to hang everything. Hours went by as he analyzed the dialogue between pictures and titles and frames and color.

By the time they had finished, the sun had gone down and so had the moon. The gallery space was lit purely by fluorescent ceiling lights and their determination. He sat on the floor and stared at all the pieces that had made it onto the walls.

"It looks perfect." Pacifica had her hands on her hips, eyes positively glowing with excitement. Dipper let himself get lost in her enthusiasm for a few seconds.

"It's all thanks to you, honestly. So, thank you." He gave her a tired smile. She blushed and returned it.

"No, you did all the hard work. And all."

"I'm sorry, who wielded the hammer and nails? Who fell off the ladder? Who made sure everything was level? You did. And I'm more grateful than any amount of words could express. Let's head back, now. I'm exhausted and I can't even fathom how tired you must be." He struggled to his feet. Pacifica trotted over and grinned once he was fully vertical. He tipped forward unexpectedly, and he panicked for a little while before he realized that his blonde friend had caught him. He decided to give her a hug like he had totally meant to fall over. She squeaked a little at the unexpected but not unwanted contact. He pulled away so that he wasn't crushing her, but she stalled him before their faces got too far apart.

Her eyes were literally sparkling in the gallery light. Shades of pale blue faded into deep navy like the churning waves of the ocean. Her hands moved up his arms, cupping the back of his neck and head. Her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. He closed his eyes as their lips met. She still smelled like the ocean, despite having showered many times since he smuggled her into the dorm. Salt and sand and sun-kissed skin. Probably a few other 's' words as well.

Dipper brought a hand up to cradle her face, his thumb absentmindedly rubbing against her cheekbone. The blonde gently released his lips and breathed a few times.

"Look, I didn't kill you that time."

He smirked and pressed his forehead against hers. His legs were starting to tremble from standing for too long, though. He really needed sleep.

"I appreciate it. Let's get back now. Please."

"Of course!" She took his hand and led the way back to the dorm. All he had to do was attend the gallery opening and then he could graduate. He fell asleep before they made it all the way up the stairs.

* * *

Dipper falling asleep was a normal thing. Dipper falling asleep with five stairs left before they made it to the second floor of his dorm building was definitely not a normal thing. Pacifica staggered under his weight, surprised that he felt so heavy despite not having eaten much over the past few days. She had to admit to herself, as she huffed and puffed her way up the stairs, that she was a tad bit worried about the boy.

But, with the help of Robbie, she managed to get the brunette into his bed.

"Seriously, do you just live here now?" The black haired man wiped his brow with a spare hankie as he looked around the room. Everything visible was Dipper's.

"Does any of this look like it's mine?" Pacifica deflected.

Robbie squinted at her, "well. I suppose not. But still, you're here all the time."

The blonde wasn't sure what to say to that. So she shrugged instead. Robbie sighed and let himself out.

Pacifica thought about cleaning for a bit, then ignored the messy room and set an alarm for two hours before the gallery opening. Dipper had expressed great fear over missing it, and an alarm was literally the least she could do for him. The blonde turned off the light and crawled into bed next to Dipper. He was warm. Maybe too warm, but that was what cocooning did to people.

She woke up for the alarm the next day, bleary eyed and ready to prepare for her day. She yawned and tried to sit up, but Dipper had rolled onto her hair during the night. She rubbed at her sore scalp, then gently shoved him off of her hair. He made a sad noise. The blonde pouted at the back of his head, then officially tried to wake him up.

"Dipper?"

He snored.

"Dipper."

"Hmmnh?"

She patted his side, "it's time to wake up. You want to be on time, right?"

He sighed, then slowly rolled over. She nearly shrieked. Pale veins and red stripes of muscle were visible through his skin. He was way too close to cocooning to be attending events. She had known for the past week that he wouldn't make it through his gallery opening, but she hadn't wanted to disappoint him.

"Nevermind, go back to sleep."

He frowned, "um, no? What's up?"

"You are not well enough for this."

"Fuck that, I am graduating."

"Dipper-"

"Pacifica, please! I didn't do all that work to just not pass! And you didn't help me for nothing. I am going to this thing."

The blonde rolled her eyes, but helped him get ready anyway. He got tired out after mere minutes of standing, he literally looked like death, but she couldn't see him fail. Not when he had worked so hard. She wasn't as good with make-up as Mabel, mostly because she was out of practice, but the young woman had Dipper looking mildly humanoid after half an hour of foundation and prayers. He put on some nicer looking clothes that would cover most if not all of his visible skin, and then they were off. He always did like being early for things.

Pacifica hoped he made it through alright.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry i haven't been updating often. School has been super busy and stressful. Hopefully things will calm down around March 3rd. That's when one of my classes ends, lol. Until then, here's a chapter!**

* * *

Pacifica smoothed out the skirt of her dress, then glanced across the crowd at Dipper. He was leaning casually against the wall, chatting with one of his professors about the work and how it flows. The blonde tore her gaze away and focused instead on the crowd. Most of the attendants were Dipper's classmates and professors, but there were a few students who were obviously there for the food and a couple others were artists from other fields.

She spotted Robbie chatting with a ginger haired woman across the way. When she rolled her eyes and wandered over to Dipper, the dark haired man laughed and caught Pacifica's gaze. He waved and she stared at the floor. She wasn't sure how she felt about Robbie, but she wasn't entirely sure that she liked him. A few seconds later, he was handing her a cup full of soda.

"You look worried, little missy. What's up?"

She sighed and took a sip from the drink before answering.

"Dipper hasn't been feeling well all week. I'm just here to keep an eye on him."

Robbie looked concerned, "I noticed. I tried to check on him yesterday but he brushed me off."

Pacifica stared at her drink. Robbie patted her on the shoulder.

"I'm here if you need any help, okay?"

She gave him a friendly smile as he wandered back over to the ginger woman and proceeded to sweet talk her out of the gallery. Dipper slumped against the wall, clearly sweating bullets despite all the makeup he had on. The blonde felt her heart pick up the pace as she ducked through the crowd to make sure her friend was okay.

* * *

He had been feeling lightheaded the whole evening, but he hadn't really been dizzy until right as Wendy was leaving with Robbie. He leaned against the wall a little more roughly than he had been anticipating. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision before realizing that he had sweat in his eyes. He blinked a little more. A seafoam green dress and sparkly shoes drifted into view.

"Pacifica?"

Her firm grip on his shoulders steadied his swaying form. His knees were wobbling.

"I'm right here. Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I don't… I don't think so."

Spots clouded his vision. The floor seemed to wobble, upsetting his balance. Everything went black.

* * *

Pacifica stared into the ocean waves that gently sloshed sand onto her feet. Dipper had been in the silky white cocoon for nearly three weeks. Apparently, he was a late bloomer. The alternative idea had made her cry earlier, so she avoided thinking about it. She waded a little further out, mentally going over the checklist that he had left behind for her.

So far she had completed all of his graduation paperwork, sent and answered e-mails about job opportunities after graduation, collected his diploma, fended off all of his friends by making excuses, and cleaned up the gallery after his show was over so the next student could go. If he could breathe air once he got out of his cocoon, then his life would be able to pick up like he had never left.

The blonde sighed. She hoped he could live a normal life once this was over. Maybe he would even let her stay friends with him. It was really up to him. The waves crested behind her as she moved through the deeper waters, questing for the spot where she had brought the brunette after he had passed out at his gallery show. Her fingertips brushed against the gelatinous orb that he resided in. The water was up to her neck when she stood on her tippy-toes. Dipper's cocoon was well away from where any beachgoers would be. It was quite a hike to find it.

The cocoon rose to the water's sparkling surface, deflated and malformed. Pacifica tried to keep a level head and calm body. Her heart was doing jumping jacks and her stomach was twisted so hard that she doubted its legitimacy as an organ. Her parent's cocoons had looked similarly grotesque. She carefully picked up the white husk and looked at the ocean.

There was no body anywhere. Not even a malformed one. Her blue eyes threatened to overflow from all the anxiety that she was trying not to feel. He had to be alive, he just had to be.

Something brushed against her leg. Pacifica screeched, whirling around as quickly as possible in the deep waters and succeeding only in nearly drowning herself. She lost her balance as a swell went by and all she could see was salty water. Her mouth filled with brine and regret. She clawed her way towards the sun, hair getting entangled in the swirling currents. Something brushed against her legs again, brown and fuzzy. Much too large to be seaweed. A cold nose prodded her back and guided her towards the air.

Coughing and sputtering, whatever it was that had been rubbing on her legs now guided her to shore. The young woman had never been so happy to see sand in her entire life. She waded into the shallows, hair and skin dripping water. She tugged her tanktop away from her chest and spat some water onto the sand. Unsteady footsteps behind her made her turn, ready to defend herself with nothing but fingernails if she had to.

Brown hair gleaming wetly in the sunlight was the first thing that caught her eye. The familiar curve of a freckled birthmark on a forehead was the second. Dipper's friendly hazel eyes blinked as a smile stretched across his face.

"Some mermaid you are."

Pacifica felt tears stream down her cheeks. He was alive! She stepped towards him, then ran as fast as her unsteady and waterlogged legs would let her and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She was sniffly and gross and felt like a drowned rat but that didn't matter!

"Pacifica, I like you a lot, but this is really awkward." He sort of patted her back a little. She pulled away and realized that he was entirely naked. She flushed teal and backed up.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot-"

"I know, clothes aren't really a thing with mermaids."

She covered her blushing face with her hands. This was not what she had expected at all.

"At least I can live on land without dying, though. Do you have clothes for me or do I have to run back to the dorm in my birthday suit?"

The blonde slowly uncovered her face, then trotted towards the edge of the woods. It took a bit of grousing around, but she found the shorts and hoodie that she had put there the day after Dipper had cocooned. She brought them over to him and turned around as he changed, despite that doing literally nothing for her having hugged him like three seconds ago.

"Okay, I'm decent."

Pacifica turned around to find him folding a large cloak of brown fabric. It looked like it was wet, maybe animal fur?

"Uh, not to be rude, but where was that when you said you needed clothes?"

Dipper shrugged, "I think technically it's my skin?"

The blonde felt pale.

"Your… skin?"

"Yeah, how do you think I got you to shore?"

Her stomach started to twist in disgust. Had he swaddled her in his flesh? She wasn't sure that she wanted to know.

"Skin."

Dipper licked his chapped lips, "Like, I'm not human when I'm wearing it?"

She didn't remember what happened next. Everything just sort of disappeared.


End file.
